ARLINGTON, Texas – J.B. Mauney got his first taste of Mick E Mouse’s infamous shoulder drop Sunday afternoon and now the 2013 World Champion bull rider is already thinking about how he will solve his newest riddle.
“Oh, I want another shot,” Mauney said after being bucked off by Mick E Mouse in 3.13 seconds during the first round of THE AMERICAN at AT&T Stadium. “I wish they would run him back in right now.”
Mick E Mouse turned right out of the chute, dipped low to the ground and was able to get the veteran bull rider’s rope jammed into his fingers with relative ease.
“I messed him up right out of there, and he kind of had a little hop, skip to him,” Mauney said. “I wasn’t set and didn’t have my hips down enough. He kind of rolled me over my hand and rolled my rope into my finger tips and it went south from there.”
Mauney is the fourth World Champion – Guilherme Marchi (twice), Mike Lee (twice) and Silvano Alves – to have been bucked off by Mick E Mouse, who also has dumped four-time PRCA champion J.W. Harris twice and 2011 PRCA champion Shane Proctor once.
“It was great to see them get together because it had not ever happened,” owner Marlene Henry said. “He didn’t have a huge kick out, but when he turned he had that drop.”
Henry wasn’t fazed by her bull being marked only 43.75 points. To her, it was just as important to see Mick E Mouse eliminate a World Champion with such ease and power.
“No matter what the judges see and what they mark him, it matters not to me when you slam J.B. Mauney or J.W. Harris down,” Henry said. “It is the honor that he did it.”
Mick E Mouse has bucked off 32 consecutive riders on the Built Ford Tough Series and 38 overall.
“We have been wanting (Mauney), so that was a good deal,” stock contractor Kevin Loudamy said. “I was impressed with Mick E, just from the conditions of being here all night and him being able to handle it. I was proud of him.”
Mick E Mouse was bucking less than 24 hours after dispatching Eduardo Aparecido in 2.59 seconds during the second round of the Choctaw Casino Resort Iron Cowboy, powered by Kawasaki Strong.
He was marked 44.75 points on Saturday night and improved to 4-0 on the BFTS this season. Mick E Mouse is averaging a career-high 45.31 points per out.
“Last night he had the big jump out and Eduardo fell off right there,” Henry said. “That was that.”
The bull score may not have reflected it Sunday, but it always is an impressive feat when a bull takes down a motivated Mauney, which makes two-time World Champion Justin McBride excited for what the future may hold.
“What is so cool is I feel like this is just the beginning of something we are going to get to see time and time again,” McBride said. “I don’t know if he will ever ride him, but I do know this – he is going to keep trying to. That is a challenge to him now. That is going to turn into what we saw with Bushwacker and 13 times. I think you will see the same thing with that one.”
Mauney had said on Friday that he was hoping to get on Mick E Mouse in the future, not knowing at the time that he would draw him for THE AMERICAN.
He eventually went over to Loudamy and Henry following his buckoff to congratulate them on Mick E Mouse’s performance.
“I shook her hand and said he is a great bull (and) bring him to Decatur because I am going to get on him for the Challenge of the Champions,” Mauney said.
Henry is unsure if Mick E Mouse will be at Unfinished Business on May 30 because he is going to be competing at Cowboy Spring Break the week before, but she sure is perfectly OK with Mauney getting another shot at her bull this season.
“It is a great thing,” she said. “It is a big honor. J.B. has never picked him, but he said he would never run from him either.”
Mauney made it sound like that may be changing later this year.
“He is one of the rank ones and he has been one of the rank ones,” Mauney concluded. “I guess there is a couple on my list now, and I am going to start doing like I did Bushwacker and Asteroid.
“Long John and Mick E Mouse.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
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